Hundreds lined up in the Star’s lobby for tickets to the 34th annual Christmas Carol Concert in support of the Santa Claus Fund.

Cathy Johnson of the Toronto Star hands Julie Montagna her tickets for the 34th annual Star Christmas carol concert, in support of the Santa Claus Fund.

By:Josh TapperStaff Reporter, Published on Tue Nov 20 2012

Julie Montagna, a large, aluminum-coloured bow festooned around her collar, stood proudly at the front of a line snaking throughout the lobby of the Toronto Star building.

It was nearing 8:30 a.m. and Montagna had been in line since 5:50 a.m. The building was closed then and she had gently rapped on the glass front doors until a passing Star employee let her in.

But now, Montagna stood with a sureness that suggested the most determined Olympic gymnast, composed and ready to sprint toward a vault. In her sights was a coveted ticket to the Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund’s annual Christmas carol concert, now in its 34th year.

“I’ve been waiting very patiently, with bated breath,” said Montagna, clutching a complimentary Milk calendar courtesy of the Star.

On Tuesday morning, about 1,500 people waited in a line that spilled interminably outside the Star building, at the foot of Yonge St. and Queens Quay. The line grew and grew, even as the free tickets to the concert at St. Paul’s Bloor Street Church began distribution at 9 a.m.

There are two performances on Dec. 1, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Proceeds from the concerts, which feature choirs from Toronto and Mississauga, go to the Santa Claus Fund, which hopes to raise $1.6 million to donate gifts to 45,000 needy children across the GTA.

“I come for the spirit of the season,” June Elliot, 69, said of the concert. “And at the same time, you’re doing something for someone else.”

Amita Rajan, an 18-year-old Ryerson journalism student who drove in from Ajax with her father, Chris, has attended the concert since 2004.

“It’s what Christmas is about,” Rajan said. “Everyone’s in a good mood.”

Like the Rajans, many of the concert-goers were veterans of the line-up, stocked with snacks and bonhomie.

Linda Weytze, 65, drove from Brampton at 7 a.m. with her husband, Dick. To pass the time, she lounged in a camouflage folding chair and read Mireille Guiliano’s irreverent diet book, French Women Don’t Get Fat.

Weytze, who has attended the concert for the last four years, said she once bonded with a line neighbour over finding the right adult diaper for her father.